Good Charlotte became a household name – among MTV homes, at least – by delivering angst-ridden pop-punk that drove its sophomore effort “The Young and the Hopeless” into multiplatinum territory. But on the band’s fourth record, “Good Morning Revival,” they’ve finally managed to crack a smile, tossing in a surprising number of feel-good dance tracks.

“Some people said, ‘Don’t stray from the formula that made you,’ but we’renot interested in being the band that has a formula,” says singer Joel Madden, who’s equally known for being the former paramour of Hilary Duff and current beau of Nicole Richie. “We’ve always wanted to widen the box so we could have more freedom in the future.”

Take, for example, the disco-ready “Keep Your Hands Off My Girl,” a song released on MySpace months before the album was ready.

“It’s very different for us,” admits Madden. “While some of our fans love it, others hate it. But one thing it’s done for us is given us freedom to do something else that’s way different in the future, whether people like it or hate it.”

He says some of the dance vibes may have resulted from his regular deejaying gigs. “It started off as a hobby, but it’s turned into another job.” But the real motivation behind the upbeat sound is that he and twin brother/guitarist Benji, the band’s primary songwriters, have dealt with some of their most pressing personal issues.

“This isn’t a ‘problem’ record, my record to vent – I think I got past that,” Madden says. “I’m 28 now, I’m not going to pretend that I’m having the same problems I had six years ago. We’re not trying to sell kids that we’re in high school and we’re having the same problems, too.

“Now, I’m trying to give our fans a good time, maybe give them some hope and inspire them. It’s definitely not like ‘Everything’s going great, so let’s make a happy record.’ But I think we’re just really comfortable with who we are, the good and the bad. We’ve aged and grown into ourselves, settled into our lives and are living them.”

This isn’t the first time that Good Charlotte’s tried self-reinvention. Some critics argued that they actually tried too hard to do that very thing on their last album, “Chronicles of Life and Death,” largely deemed a failure, even though it had huge sales.

“That was kind of discouraging because we all thought that it did well,” Madden recalls. “There was no way for us to make another ‘Young and the Hopeless.’ That would have been the end of our career, people would have been so sick of us.”

“‘Chronicles’ sold 3 million copies worldwide, and there weren’t any massive radio hits. I hope our next one fails like that one. Honestly, if ‘Good Morning Revival’ does as well as ‘Chronicles’ did, I will be so ecstatic, I’d invite you to the party that we have.”